The race for House District 40 will pit incumbent Democrat John Buckner, a former employee of the Cherry Creek School District, against Republican challenger JulieMarie Shepherd, an at-large member of the Aurora Public Schools Education Board.
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State Representative – House District 40 Buckner vs Shepherd
By Rachel Sapin, Staff Writer
The race for House District 40 will pit incumbent Democrat John Buckner, a former employee of the Cherry Creek School District, against Republican challenger JulieMarie Shepherd, president of the Aurora Public Schools Board of Education.
Buckner, who worked as a teacher, principal, administrator and legislative representative for the Cherry Creek School District until his retirement in 2009, won his seat representing House District 40 in 2012. He sits on the house education and judiciary committees, where K-12 school funding has been his focus.
In the 2014 legislative session, Buckner was the prime sponsor for the annual school finance bill that created 5,000 more spots for pre-K and full-time kindergarten students and increased funding for English language learners. He also sponsored a bill that provided a $110 million reduction to the state’s $1 billion K-12 funding shortfall.
Buckner said he plans to continue on the same course if elected for 2015.
“I work as hard as I can on K-12 education, funding for schools, and reasonable kinds of legislative control of schools,” he said.
He added that he is also working to make higher education more affordable for students. He pointed to legislation passed in 2014 that provided $100 million to Colorado’s public colleges and universities along with a provision that lowered the maximum annual tuition hikes from 9 percent to 6 percent.
When asked about the controversy surrounding the Jefferson County School Board, Buckner said Advanced Placement curriculum isn’t something a local school board should have authority over.
“If you’re going to receive AP credit, you’re going to have to teach the AP curriculum,” he said.
Buckner also disagreed with Jefferson County school board member Julie William’s proposed curriculum for AP U.S. history courses that said classes should not encourage civil disorder. “The notion of reducing the impact of civil disobedience in a democracy seems to be contrary to the entire history of the United States. We were founded on our revolutions,” he said.
Shepherd said she couldn’t comment on whether the JeffCo school board was right to try to make controversial changes to the curriculum for Advanced Placement U.S. history courses.
“It’s not my school board and it’s not my community,” she said. “From a process standpoint of a school board proposing to review a curriculum, constitutionally that is in the purview of the local school board.”
Shepherd said she decided to throw her hat into the ring because she would like to see more local control when it comes to education legislation passed by the state.
“There is an increasing number of mandates and reforms coming down from the federal and state level. As a local school board member, I have a firsthand understanding of and appreciation for local control,” she said.
Shepherd is glad that legislators found more money for education this year, but said local communities could suffer because the state will ultimately dictate where that money goes.
“The cuts we made at Aurora Public Schools don’t look the same as Cherry Creek Schools or rural communities,” she said.
Shepherd said if elected, she would also like to look at the impacts of state testing such as the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program. “I’m trying to get a better handle on what these tests are measuring,” she said. “Are they measuring a students ability to take a test? or are they measuring content comprehension? I’m not saying we should be opting out of them, but I think it’s a conversation.”
She added that she would like to see the state promote more choices in education.
“One specific way I would like to see choice expanded is by better leveraging pilot and innovation status schools,” she said. “Innovation schools were authorized through legislation in 2008, yet there is still a relatively limited number of districts around the state taking advantage of this. It would be helpful to evaluate whether or whether not there are implementation or funding barriers to opening innovation status schools that the state can
alleviate.”
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State Rep. John Buckner is the current Democratic state representative of House District 40, southern Aurora. Buckner has worked for decades for the Cherry Creek School District for schools that include Laredo Middle School, Smoky Hill High School and Overland High School. He served as a teacher, a principal, an administrator and a legislative representative for the Cherry Creek School District until his retirement in 2009.
Rep. Buckner has served on the boards of the Colorado Institute for Educational Inquiry, the Multi-Culture Task Force for Cherry Creek Schools, and the Colorado State Board of Education’s Principal and Administrator Standards Board. He has attended the Harvard University Principal Leadership Academy and served as executive director for Excellence and Equity for Cherry Creek Schools. He has also participated on the Aurora Leadership Board of the Chamber of Commerce and is an alumni of the Commerces’ Leadership Aurora program.-www.bucknerforcolorado.com
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Born in Calcutta, India, Shepherd considers herself an “almost” native of Aurora. As an infant, she was adopted and came to live in Aurora with her mom, a retired United States Army Officer.
Shepherd attended the University of Colorado, Boulder and received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a certificate in Leadership studies through the Presidents Leadership Class. As an undergrad, JulieMarie had the opportunity to intern in the Republican House Press office. Shepherd recently completed a doctorate program in Political Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder where she wrote her dissertation on school board governance across Colorado.
Since 2009, Shepherd has served on the Aurora Public Schools Board of Education. –www.shepherdforcolorado.com
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https://tracer.sos.colorado.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/CandidateDetail.aspx?SeqID=26946
[/wc_accordion_section] [wc_accordion_section title=”JulieMarie A. Shepherd Finance“]
https://tracer.sos.colorado.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/CandidateDetail.aspx?Type=CA&SeqID=31510
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State Rep. Mark Ferrandino, Democratic Caucus Leader
State Rep. Nancy Todd, Democratic Assistant Caucus Leader
State Rep. Lois Court, Caucus Chair
State Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, Democratic Whip
State Rep. Dan Pabon, Democratic Deputy Whip
State Rep. Rhonda Fields
State Rep. Daniel Kagan
State Rep. Claire Levy
State Rep. Su Ryden
State Rep. Angela Williams
State Sen. Morgan Carroll
State Sen. Pat Steadman
Former State House Speaker, Terrance Carroll
AFL-CIO
IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers)
Aurora Firefighters
American Dream
Colorado Education Association
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association #9
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Colorado Council 76
Denver Classroom Teacher’s Association
NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado PAC
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Aurora’s Former First Lady Kate Tauer
Aurora Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Bob Roth
State Representative Kathleen Conti
State Representative Bian DelGrosso
State Representative Bob Rankin
Assistant House Minority Leader Libby Szabo
Colorado Association of Realtors
Colorado Dental Association
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